Girl, 11 by Amy Clarke (grave mercy TXT) 📗

about the Countdown Killer. She should be in her studio, preparing for next week’s episode. She should have a name, a direction, a lead. Instead, she was stuck here in traffic—and stuck on this case.

Thirty minutes later, they finally got to the station. Elle pulled in next to Sam’s sedan. Sam had about a foot on her, so she had to rush to keep up. He brought her through the familiar double glass doors and down the hall to an interview room.

“Take a seat. Want anything to drink?”

Elle shook her head, but then changed her mind and said, “Yeah, some water.”

Sam left the room, shutting the door behind him. She looked at it and wondered for a moment if it was locked. She wasn’t under arrest, but she also wasn’t used to being the only one in a room like this. When she’d been here in the past, she was sitting next to an officer across from a suspect or a neglectful parent.

After a moment, Commander Ayaan Bishar entered the room and sat across from Elle, facing the direction of the hidden camera. Seeing her in the seat Elle associated with the suspect was oddly unsettling, like running into your dentist at the bar.

Ayaan led the Crimes Against Children division, but before she made detective, she used to accompany Elle on protective custody calls for CPS. They also worked the Jair Brown case together a couple years ago—the five-year-old boy who had gone missing from his home and turned up buried in a shallow grave less than a mile away two days later. Ayaan had made the arrest after Elle, Martín, and her podcast listeners finally put together the evidence on the boy’s uncle.

“Hey, Ayaan,” Elle said.

She looked exactly the same—round face framed by a soft purple hijab, tied up in a turban style; deep brown eyes sharp and probing under perfectly penciled eyebrows. “Hi, Elle,” she said. “It’s nice to see you, although I wish it were under better circumstances. I meant to call and tell you I’m enjoying your new season.”

“Thank you.”

Sam returned with a bottle of water and sat next to Ayaan, across from Elle. She wondered if they did this on purpose, putting her on the side where they normally sat, like that would make her more comfortable. Elle fidgeted, feeling ridiculous. She wasn’t a suspect here.

“You briefly said on the phone, but can you tell me why you were at Leo Toca’s apartment?” Ayaan asked.

“He emailed my podcast account, said he had a tip for me. So, I went to meet him.”

“Why didn’t you meet somewhere public?”

“I wanted to, but he asked me to come to his house.”

“Do you often go to strangers’ houses alone at night because they ask you to?” Sam asked.

Elle fought to not roll her eyes. “No, but I don’t often get someone claiming they know who Minnesota’s most notorious serial killer is.”

Sam’s eyes widened a little. “You’re doing the Countdown Killer case?”

She lifted her chin. “Yes, I started releasing episodes in December. I’ve gotten a lot of tips since then, but Leo seemed especially credible to me.”

“Why is that?”

“Because he mentioned having seen this special tea from one of the crime scenes in the man’s house. And he sounded scared, like he was sure someone was after him.” As she said the words, Elle sat back in her chair. In all the chaos, she’d almost forgotten about that. Leo had sounded terrified.

Ayaan leaned forward, steepled her hands under her chin. “I’m sorry. You must be very frustrated.”

“He . . . he sounded genuinely scared on the phone. That’s why he wouldn’t meet me at a restaurant. I thought maybe he was being paranoid, but apparently he had reason to be afraid.” If he really did know who TCK was, that information could have gotten him into trouble. “Could someone have been tapping his phone? How would they know he’d reached out to me?”

Sam wrote something down on the pad in front of him and then looked up at her again. “I highly doubt Leo was killed for saying he had a tip for your podcast investigation. You saw Duane Grove next to the body moments after Leo was killed. I just spoke to the landlord, who said he overheard Leo and Duane fighting about their business at the mechanic’s last night. Right now, his partner is a strong person of interest. Do you remember what he said when you got there?”

“Just that he had found Leo like that. I think he said he’d come over to borrow something, and Leo was dead when he got there.” Elle clenched her hands. If Leo really did get shot over a business dispute just minutes before she arrived, she must have the worst luck in the world. “I can’t believe this.”

“What did you do after you arrived and found Leo murdered?”

“I took his pulse to make sure, and I told Duane he was dead. Then Duane ran off, and I called 911, then texted Ayaan to let her know.”

“And you didn’t find or touch anything at the scene before I arrived? You didn’t see what Leo was supposedly going to show you?”

Elle grew very still, her eyes focused on his. “No, nothing. That’s why I’m so pissed.”

Ayaan nodded and stood up. “Well, I think that’s enough for tonight. Detective Hyde or I will be in touch if we have any other questions. Are you feeling distressed at all? We have a liaison you can speak to if you want to get some numbers for counseling. Discovery of a body can be traumatic.”

“I’ve seen worse things,” Elle said, then winced at how flippant it sounded. But it was true. Death was by no means the worst thing that could happen to a person; surely Sam and Ayaan knew that. She stood and followed Ayaan out.

After collecting her gun and saying goodbye, Elle headed to her car on autopilot. Maybe Sam was right. Duane was the obvious suspect, and if he and Leo had fought the night